Saturday, May 13, 2017

Hamas co-founder Mahmoud al-Zahar clarified Wednesday that his terror group’s new political program, which some interpreted as accepting the idea of a Palestinian state on the 1967 lines, would not preclude Hamas from seeking to liberate all of historic Palestine, including Israel.

“If we liberate Palestine though the resistance until the 1967 borders, we will go directly to liberate the rest of Palestine and the territories of 1948, and there will be no negotiations,” Zahar said at a conference in Gaza addressing international reactions to the new policy document, according to the Hamas-linked al-Resalah news site.More

From London to Paris, New York to Helsinki, poverty tends to cluster in the east. One study suggests a surprising reason why

The question is so obvious that you could easily forget to ask it: why do cities so often have a poor east side? To be clear, the mystery is not why every city has its leafy and its grubby sections – it costs money to live in nice places and to avoid nasty ones, which tends to group people into them by wealth. The mystery is why the poor groups always end up in the east.

Of course, the true picture is never neat nor simple, but by common consent a British-biased list of cities with poor eastern districts would include: London, Paris, New York, Toronto, Bristol, Manchester, Brighton and Hove, Oxford, Glasgow, Helsinki and Casablanca. No doubt there are some cities where poverty clusters in the west, but they seem harder to find; perhaps Delhi and Sydney?

The story seems easier to explain case by case. In London, for example, the docks are downstream in the east, and docks are rarely very salubrious in cities. For much of its history, the Thames also took the city’s waste, and smell, eastward. No wonder the poor wound up living there, you might say.

A malicious cyber attack traveled swiftly across the globe Friday, causing massive disruptions and locking users out of their systems unless they paid $300 in BitCoin, has been effectively curbed after one cyber expert found a creative solution to outsmart the hackers… and it cost him less than $11.

More than 75,000 computers in 99 countries were compromised by the cyber attack, with a heavy concentration in the UK, U.S., China, Russia, Spain, Italy and Taiwan.

The mastermind who figured out how to outsmart the architects of the nasty “WannaCry” Internet worm is a British researcher known by the Twitter handle @MalwareTechBlog.

The cyber genius reportedly discovered a “kill switch” embedded in the malware by its creators, in case things went awry.

The attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec 7, 1941, united the nation as it had never been before — in the conviction that Japan must be smashed, no matter how long it took or how many lives it cost.

After the defeat of the Axis powers in 1945, however, Americans divided.

Only with the Berlin Blockade of 1948, the fall of China to Mao and Russia’s explosion of an atom bomb in 1949, and North Korea’s invasion of the South in 1950, did we unite around the proposition that, for our own security, we had to go back to Europe and Asia.

What was called the Cold War consensus — that only America could “contain” Stalin’s empire — led to NATO and new U.S. alliances from the Elbe to the East China Sea.

Vietnam, however, shattered that Cold War consensus.

The far left of the Democratic Party that had taken us into Vietnam had repudiated the war by 1968, and switched sides to sympathize with such Third World communists as Fidel Castro, Che Guevara, Ho Chi Minh and the Sandinistas.

Center-right presidents — JFK, Nixon, Reagan — accepted the need to cooperate with dictators who would side with us in fighting Communism.

And we did. Park Chung-Hee in Korea. The Shah in Iran. President Diem in Saigon. Gen. Franco in Spain. Somoza in Nicaragua. Gen. Mobuto in the Congo. Gen. Pinochet in Chile. Ferdinand Marcos in Manila. The list goes on.

Under Reagan, the Soviet Empire finally fell apart and the USSR then disintegrated in one of the epochal events of history.

The American Century had ended in America’s triumph.

Yet, after 1989, no new national consensus emerged over what ought to be our role in the World. What should we stand for? What should we fight for?

What Dean Acheson had said of our cousins in 1962: “Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a role,” was true of us.

Tameika Curtis (left) and Typhani Wilkerson (right) died in a crash in Oxon Hill in 2014. (Courtesy Wilkerson and Curtis families)

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — Kenneth Kelley of D.C. was supposed to be sentenced Friday in the deaths of five people in 2014. He had admitted he was drunk behind the wheel when his Mercedes slammed into an Acura in Oxon Hill.

Anguished family members of the victims filled one side of a Prince George’s County courtroom and waited for Kelley, 27, to be sentenced.

But he never showed up.

As the minutes turned into more than an hour, frustration boiled into outrage. Court was adjourned while prosecutors and Prince George’s County deputies tried to find Kelley. Meanwhile, relatives screamed that there was no justice in the case, which left 10 children without their mothers.

Finally, Judge Albert Northrop returned to the courtroom to say that Kelley was a no-show, and that he recognized Kelley’s failure to appear was disappointing for family members and the court. He said he would reschedule the sentencing and order Kelley held without bond once Kelley was back in custody.

As they left the courtroom, one relative referred to Kelley and shouted, “I hope he doesn’t drink and kill anybody else tonight!”

WASHINGTON — Satellites are helping guide commercial airliners to more direct routes in and out of airports. But the air traffic control technology and procedures known as NextGen have also increased complaints about airport noise, and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is demanding that the Federal Aviation Administration do something about it.

In a May 11 letter to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, Governor Hogan asks the FAA to “immediately return to the pre-NextGen flight patterns” at BWI Marshall Airport and Reagan National Airport.

The FAA has said that NextGen technology and procedures are boosting safety in the skies and also saving the airlines billions of dollars in fuel costs. In his letter, Gov. Hogan acknowledges that the current flight patterns are saving the airlines a lot of money but he wrote, “I will not have the citizens of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Howard and Montgomery Counties pay a human cost with their health and emotional well-being.”

I was born in 1962. One of my earliest memories of watching TV is watching"Batman" (1966-1968) starring Adam West, Burt Ward, Burgess Meredith, Frank Gorshin, Caesar Romero, and the rest. It was just so much fun singing along with the Batman theme song (pretty easy for a four year old), and trying to say the silly "Holy Hairdo" and "Holy Alter Ego Batman!" sayings by Robin. What a great, silly show!

If you're a Democrat, 2016 was "the good ol' days." Back then, you were safely ensconced in the arrogant assumption that Hillary Clinton would be the next President. You were 100% sure that Donald Trump was guaranteed to suffer a humiliating defeat, and your socialist utopia would be secured by the ascension of the first female President.

Then she lost.

Now, you spend your days wandering through your worst nightmare. You stop briefly to forage for a latte, scream at someone in the comment section of a website you claim to hate, then turn back to MSNBC. There, terrified broadcasters report on the GOP's efforts to dismantle the Obama agenda.

It wasn't supposed to be this way. Russians must be behind it. Or sexism. ...Or that monster, James Comey. Oh sure, you wanted him fired, but that was last year. Now that Donald Trump has acquiesced to your former demands, it's a constitutional crisis.

...Apparently, you've forgotten that - just about six months ago - people like Valerie Jarret, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi were setting the stage for Hillary to do exactly the same thing.

Soon my wife and I will celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary. We have four kids. We don't have a perfect family; we have our share of strife. But we are happy, especially whenever all the kids can come home, like at Christmas or Thanksgiving. Nowadays, it seems like those special holidays are the only times all six of us can be together.

My wife and I are facing something we've never faced before ... the empty nest. Two of our three boys are off on their own pursuing their careers. One son still lives with us, but he is rarely home (he's busy either at his full-time job or at the gym or with his friends). He has plans to soon be on his own too. Our daughter is graduating from high school and will be heading off to follow her chosen career.

Hospitals, corporations and government offices around the world were hit by a massive wave of cyberattacks that seized control of computers and demanded payments from victims.

The ransomware impacted nearly 20 percent of the U.K.'s 248 public health trusts on Friday. All but six have been restored.

According to cybersecurity firm Avast on Friday, more than 75,000 ransomware attacks were reported in 99 countries, making it one of the largest and most damaging campaigns in history.

"The type of ransomware that's making its way through many organizations and industries is called Wanna Decryptor," Leon Kuperman, CTO of cybersecurity company CUJO, told us Friday. "It’s been around for two weeks but has only started spreading like wildfire today."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a longstanding partner of Boy Scouts of America (BSA) but which has grown uneasy with BSA's increasingly liberal stances on gay and transgender issues, took a step away from the organization Thursday. The church insisted that the decision had nothing to do with LGBT issues, but with the needs of older boys.

"As part of the Church's ongoing effort to evaluate and improve its service to families and young people worldwide, the Church will no longer charter Varsity or Venturing units with the Boy Scouts of America and Scouts Canada effective January 1, 2018," the church's office of the First Presidency declared in a letter Thursday.

"We express sincere appreciation and gratitude to all adult leaders who have supported young men in these programs and are grateful for our long-standing and continuing partnership with the Boy Scouts of America and Scouts Canada," the letter added. "Cub Scout and Boy Scout programs will continue to be chartered through local wards and branches."

Georgetown- Delaware State Police have arrested an 18-year-old man after he made online threats toward Sussex Central High School in late March.

The initial investigation began on Thursday, March 30, 2017, after Troopers received information that a subject had posted several threatening comments directed toward Sussex Central High School on social media. As a result of the posts, multiple troopers responded to the school on Friday, March 31, in order to provide additional security. No incidents occurred at the school, however.

Through further investigation, troopers were able to trace the the online posts to the home of a 12th grade student of the school, Zefryn Stillman, 18, of Millsboro. On Friday, May 12, 2017, a search warrant was obtained for Stillman's residence located in the 28000 block of Cedar Street, and upon the execution of the warrant, evidence linking Stillman to the incident was located.

Zefryn Stillman was arrested and charged with felony Terroristic Threatening. He was arraigned at JP Court 2 and released on $2500.00 unsecured bond.

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) is not only becoming a leader of the anti-Trump resistance movement, she is also saying crazier and crazier things in public. She rallied a crowd for Trump's impeachment and then said she never called for impeachment (in the same week), she forgot how to say the words North Korea, and now this. She actually said it would have been fine for Hillary Clinton, had she become president, to fire FBI Director Comey, but that it was not okay for Trump to do it. Even MSNBC wasn't buying her hypocrisy! MSNBC's Peter Alexander asked, "To be clear, you believe it would have been better to keep in place an FBI director who you said had no credibility to oversee this investigation than to find someone who you think would be a better choice?" She mostly ummmmed and ahhhhed during her response.

OCEAN CITY — Resort officials wrestled this week with its new policy on voluntarily buying back taxi medallions in order to increase their value in the face of stiff competition from Uber, but ultimately agreed to approve each of the requested transfers.

The Mayor and Council had before them on Tuesday a request to transfer five taxi medallions in three separate transactions and initially decided to allow two and reject three, the latter because the proposed cost of the transfer of the three medallions at $2,000 was considerably lower than their original price, perhaps illustrating the financial impact of ride-sharing operations, such as Uber, on the resort’s cab industry.

In the other two independent transfers, the sale price for one medallion was $4,000 while the other was $4,100. The council quickly approved the latter two requests, but struggled with the request to transfer three medallions for a total of $2,000. After considerable debate, they ultimately agreed to the three-medallion for $2,000 transfer by a 4-2 vote with Councilman Matt James and Wayne Hartman advocating for the town to buy back the three medallions.

President Donald Trump’s new bipartisan commission on voting security can use federal data to help resolve the bitter partisan dispute about the reality of large-scale fraudulent voting, Commission vice-chairman Kris Kobach told Breitbart News.

“The issue of voting fraud often gets politicized, and people are making statements with few foundations [of fact, so] this commission will provide a firm foundation [of] information and facts that are verifiable about the issues surrounding voter fraud,” said Kobach, who is the Kansas Secretary of State and is a long-standing opponent of voters fraud and illegal immigration.

“The states are in the drivers’ seat, but this commission can offer recommendations and evidence” for state legislators to debate, he added, adding that many state elections are decided by fewer than 50 votes.

Koch is vice-chairman of the panel, which is run by Vice President Mike Pence. The panel is expected to include Democrats, but progressive pressure groups are calling for a Democratic boycott.

The commission is vital because it can use federal data about peoples’ citizenship to help states check the eligibility of people on their voting rolls, Kobach said.More here

OCEAN CITY – Ocean City’s long-established restaurant, The Hobbit, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year with familiar faces, classic food and timeless appeal.

For the past four decades, The Hobbit has served the resort as a family-owned restaurant loved by locals and tourists alike.

Owner Garvey Heiderman said The Hobbit’s longstanding tradition of fine dining and exceptional service continues to bring familiar faces back each year.

“We are one of the last white table cloth businesses in town,” he said. “I’m a big believer in change and that you have to adapt to changes, whether it’s in the food market or what people are looking for as customers, but at the end of the day I think people will always enjoy getting dressed up and going out to eat for special occasions.”

Catherine Engelbrecht, president of True the Vote, talked with Breitbart News Daily SiriusXM host Raheem Kassam on Friday regarding President Trump’s executive order establishing the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, which will investigate voter fraud and offer recommendations.

Engelbrecht said of voter fraud in America: “We are, in my opinion, on the verge of a systemic crisis for a lot of reasons.

"The first is, we are not evaluating the people that we are allowing to register to vote. We are not doing any sort of reconciliation for identity, residency, citizenship. … We don’t know that these people are who they say that they are.”

Engelbrecht added that with the data and technology available today, “there’s no reason that we wouldn’t have a better handle on that.”

Months after the City Council left the launch time of summer’s beach fireworks at 10 p.m., a council majority on Tuesday voted to move back the fireworks fuse-lighting to 10:30 p.m.

In the final moments of Tuesday’s work session, Councilman John Gehrig made a motion to move back the show based on responses from Boardwalk business owners on the matter in a survey in March. He received backing from Councilman Matt James and support from Council President Lloyd Martin.

“I think the fireworks are a great appeal, and they’ll keep people on the Boardwalk a half-hour longer even if they have kids,” Martin said. “If you look at the survey, it’s split on the time.”

TEAM Productions has been putting on the fireworks show for the past five years as part of a free event package to add to visitor experience. In February, the Tourism Commission recommended moving the firework show to a later hour based on the request from one business and responses from four others that sit on that commission.

The blistering behind-the-scenes book, by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes, illustrates how Hillary Clinton furiously blamed her defeat on the FBI investigation into her private emails, Russian interference, and Trump’s supposed support from “white nationalists.”

From Shattered:

On a phone call with a longtime friend a couple of days after the election, Hillary was much less accepting of her defeat. She put a fine point on the factors she believed cost her the presidency: the FBI (Comey), the KGB (the old name for Russia’s intelligence service), and the KKK (the support Trump got from white nationalists).More here

The Marine Corps has released a recruiting ad that, for the first time, focuses on a female Marine in combat.

The commercial comes as the Corps faces intense scrutiny over sexism within its ranks, including a scandal over male Marines sharing nude photos of female Marines without the women's consent.

The commercial — called "Battle Up" — shows a young girl standing up to bullies, playing rugby in the rain and growing up to be a Marine. In the ad, she powers through an obstacle course and engages in a firefight as a voice-over describes the "fighting spirit." In the final scene, she helps with outreach to the homeless.

The woman in the ad is played by a Marine who served in Afghanistan, Capt. Erin Demchko. The Associated Press spoke with her about the experience. Here's the wire service on the goal of the ad:

"For a Corps that has struggled with the perception that it is the least welcoming of women among the military services, the new ad is part of a campaign to appeal to a new generation of Marines. It is also a bid for more female recruits for 'the few, the proud,' particularly athletes capable of meeting the tough physical standards required.

" 'The water was 27 degrees and coated with a layer of thick ice,' said Marine Capt. Erin Demchko, describing the great difficulty of the [gantlet], all while being surrounded by camera crews. 'Giving the film production staff what they wanted, while maintaining my bearing as a Marine officer and trying not to look cold, was a challenge.'

"Demchko, a deputy commander at Camp Courtney in Okinawa, Japan, is part of the Marine Corps' expanding effort to recruit women. The smallest military service has the lowest percentage of women and wants at least 10 percent representation by 2019. While female Marines occasionally have appeared in ads and been featured in online videos, this is the first time a woman is the focus of a national television commercial for the Corps."

A foreign government has revealed another one of the Clinton Foundation’s pay-to-play schemes.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said that Hillary Clinton “personally pressured” her to help a Clinton Foundation donor during Clinton’s tenure as secretary of state in 2011, despite it being against ethics laws, Circa reported.

Hasina’s press secretary told Circa that Clinton placed a phone call to her office in March 2011 insisting that 2006 Nobel Peace Prize winner Dr. Muhammed Yunus get his job back as chairman of Grameen Bank, a famous microcredit bank in the country.

Yunus is chairman of the bank’s nonprofit Grameen America, which donated between $100,000 and $250,000 to the Clinton Global Initiative, Circa reported.

Yunus also chairs Grameen Research, which donated an estimated $25,000 and $50,000 to CGI.

“Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telephoned Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in March 2011 insisting her not to remove Dr. Muhammad Yunus from the post of Managing Director of Grameen Bank,” Deputy Press Secretary Md Nazrul Islam said.

The Chinese appetite for beef is huge and growing, but American beef producers have been locked out of that market since a case of mad cow disease cropped up in the U.S. in 2003. In response, many countries, including South Korea, Japan, Mexico and China, banned imports of U.S. beef.

China was the only one of those nations to not eventually lift its ban — and that's a big deal.

"It's a very big market; it's at least a $2.5 billion market that's being opened up for U.S. beef," Ross said in announcing the trade deal.

Even though the City Council said last year it would no longer provide “seed money” to help with the startup costs of OC Bikefest, it’s now being asked to consider whether to sponsor the event by contributing $25,000.

The Ocean City Tourism Commission on Tuesday recommended that the council consider a sponsorship deal with the event organizers, with Tourism Director Donna Abbott telling commission members that Ocean City would be promoted through Bikefest’s various venues and social media platforms in exchange for the $25,000. This deal would contrast with past practices of funding the motorcycle event through the Tourism Advisory Board.

“Rather than sending them a check and not getting anything back, this would be an opportunity to get something in return,” Abbott said. “Bikefest is a top-searched keyword on our website, so there’s an opportunity here to tap into an event that can be helpful with promotion.”

Segregation is all the rage these days. Under the banner of “social justice,” more and more schools are dividing their students into increasingly niche groups to provide them with “safe spaces” apart from each other—the polar opposite of inclusivity and integration.

With the goal of creating a “safe space” in mind, a Detroit school has set out to hold a girls-only prom to celebrate traditional Muslim customs. It’s being created for girls who would otherwise be prohibited by their ultraconservative Muslim families from going to regular proms, where attendees are allowed to have fun and dance with members of the opposite sex in good old American tradition.

Hamtramck High School’s girls-only “Princess Prom” was first organized in 2012 by a group of five Muslim girls to give them the opportunity to go to a “safe space” prom. In 2016, 230 girls showed up. This year, they’re expecting at least 250 attendees.

After becoming one of the Columbia Fireflies best fan draws, former NFL quarterback and now single-A baseball player Tim Tebow may be in line for a promotion, according to sources.

Tebow’s playing stats have been quite respectable, especially considers he is almost a decade older than many of his teammates.

The 29-year-old former Denver Bronco was signed to a minor league contract by the New York Mets this year and has been playing in South Carolina, achieving a 849 OPS over his last 16 games. Tebow has a .250/.330/.370 slash line with two homers and 11 RBIs in 28 games for Columbia, the New York Post reports.

His work on the diamond puts him in a solid position and the Mets have taken notice. According to sources, there is talk of bumping the player up to the next level in AA ball.

But, there is undoubtedly another reason for this consideration. After all, Tebow has become a major seat-filler for the Fireflies.More here

Former Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown was found guilty on 18 fraud and tax evasion charges Thursday afternoon in a Jacksonville federal court.

The charges stemmed from accusations she illegally siphoned thousands of dollars from her charity into her own bank account for lavish parties, trips and shopping excursions.

Brown was found not guilty on four of the 22 total charges.

Brown served as a Florida representative in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 until 2017. She was defeated in her 2016 primary race.

The indictment came after an investigation into the charity One Door for Education Foundation Inc., which federal prosecutors say was purported to give scholarships to poor students but instead filled the coffers of Brown and her associates.

The percentage of new car 'sales' moving off dealer lots via leases has nearly tripled since late 2009 when they hit a low of just over 10%. Over the past 6 years, new leases, as a percent of overall car sales, has soared courtesy of, among other things, low interest rates, stable/rising used car prices and a nation of rental-crazed citizens for whom monthly payment is the only metric used to evaluate a "good deal"...even though leasing a new vehicle is pretty much the worst 'deal' you can possibly find for a rapidly depreciating brand new asset like a car...but we digress.

Of course, what goes up must eventually come down. And all those leases signed on millions of brand new cars over the past several years are about to come off lease and flood the market with cheap, low-mileage used inventory. As Reuters noted, the flood of used vehicles is already starting to impact used car dealers:

Recently, though, a computer search for available used vehicles within 150 miles of Reel revealed an eye-popping figure: 668 Escapes. That's enough to put more than 40 percent of the inhabitants of this small northeastern Ohio town, population 1,600, into the popular crossover.

A search for the Chevrolet Equinox, a comparable crossover, showed 461 available.

"The automakers have flooded the market," said Reel, owner of Reel’s Auto in Orwell, Ohio, about 40 miles east of Cleveland.

In July, James Comey decided not to bring charges against Hillary Clinton for her mishandling of a private server in her home in Chappaqua, NY.

He did so on the grounds that her actions were not “grossly negligent” which, according to the Espionage Act of 1917, would necesitate prosecution against the former Secretary of State. Instead, Comey characterized her actions as “extremely careless,” when he stated: “Although we did not find clear evidence that Secretary Clinton or her colleagues intended to violate laws governing the handling of classified information, there is evidence that they were extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.”

BERLIN – In spite of concerns from representatives of the Adkins Company, town officials approved a prohibition of trucks on Baker Street.

On Monday the Berlin Town Council updated the definition of “truck” in the town code and then passed a resolution to prohibit trucks on Baker Street that goes into effect May 28.

Mayor Gee Williams said the changes were meant to slow the deterioration of historic Baker Street, the only road in town still featuring oyster shell cement.

“This town is committed to preserving that roadway,” Mayor Gee Williams said.

The language approved defines a truck as any vehicle with a Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) exceeding 14,000 pounds. The resolution approved prohibits trucks from traveling on Baker Street unless they’re making deliveries to a business or residence on the street.

CNN finally got the scoop it was looking for: President Trump is unfair to the media.

Trump sat down recently for an interview -- and a four-course dinner -- with three reporters from Time magazine. They dined in the White House Blue Room, and the reporters took note of everything they were served -- and everything they were not.

"With the salad course, Trump is served what appeared to be Thousand Island dressing instead of the creamy vinaigrette for his guests," the reporters wrote.

New deadline for states to figure out how to deliver Medicaid care to disabled and elderly people in home and community-based settings instead of nursing homes. The deadline set by the Obama administration was 2019.

The dimensions, in feet, of a planned new monument, sponsored by the Satanic Temple, which will be placed in a veterans memorial park in Belle Plaine, Minn. The temple petitioned for the sculpture, a black steel cube with golden inverted pentagrams, topped by an empty soldier's helmet, after the city allowed another monument depicting a soldier kneeling before a cross. It will be the nation's first satanic monument erected on public grounds.

Total number of ash trees being cut down by the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, thanks to a catastrophic infestation of emerald ash borer beetles. The ultimate count of lost trees could be much higher: In Minneapolis alone, officials say the crisis threatens more than 175,000 trees in private yards.

Amount that the Washington, D.C., Department of Housing and Community Development was forced to give back to the federal government in the past three years, after repeatedly missing key spending deadlines. No other agency in the country returned more affordable-housing money during that period; one local homelessness advocate called it “insane" that the District didn't spend that money while it had it.

Rise in premiums on Alaska's health exchange from last year to this year. They were initially going to increase 42 percent, but the state created a reinsurance fund to convince its insurer to drop prices. Other states are now seeking to do something similar.

Maryland's top lawyer is advising local jails that they should not honor requests from federal officials to hold people suspected of immigration violations for up to 48 hours past their release date.

The guidance from Attorney General Brian Frosh says local jails should only hold such people longer when immigration officials present a warrant signed by a judge. Otherwise, he cautioned, the jails could be sued for unlawful detention under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.

SNOW HILL – Preliminary cuts made by the county’s finance team simplified this week’s budget work session for the Worcester County Commissioners.

In spite of the $6.6 million deficit facing officials at the start of the budget process, county staff presented the commissioners with a balanced budget this week that spends approximately $199 million. A committee made up of Chief Administrative Officer Harold Higgins, Budget Officer Kathy Whited and Finance Officer Phil Thompson spent the past several weeks adjusting the county’s proposed spending plan.

“To the defense of the department heads, we really grilled them,” Higgins said. “The finance team did not take the task lightly.”

Because of the committee’s work reducing the proposed fiscal year 2018 spending plan, the commissioners spent Tuesday’s work session reviewing and adjusting the committee’s changes. While much of the discussion focused on the county’s contributions to area nonprofits, new employees requested by the county’s department heads were also a hot topic. The commissioners approved funding for just one of the three new deputies requested by the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office. They opted not to include funding for any of the four part-time court deputies requested by the sheriff’s office.

Administrators at St. Olaf’s College revealed in an email that a racist note that led to a week-long series of protests on campus was “fabricated.”

A racist note, that sparked week-long protest efforts by students at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, was “fabricated,” according to administrators.

The note, which threatened a black female student and used an ethnic slur, was concocted as part of an ill-conceived attempt at political activism.

“This was not a genuine threat,” St. Olaf President David R. Anderson wrote on Wednesday to students. “We’re confident that there is no ongoing threat from this incident to individuals or the community as a whole.”

Student Samantha Wells, who reported the incident, claimed on social media that she was aware that the note was “fabricated” at the time that she submitted the report.

Adrian Jones told child services he was being abused by his evil father and stepmother two years before he was tortured to death and fed to pigs, it has been revealed.

The seven-year-old died in 2015 at his family's isolated rural home in Kansas City, Kansas. His sick father Michael Jones, 46, fed his emaciated body to feeder pigs.

In July 2013, two years earlier, Adrian was interviewed by a Children's Division worker while the family was living in Missouri after the department received an anonymous call reporting concerns about his welfare.

He told the worker that his father kicked him in the back of the head until a 'little bone come out' and that his stepmother, Heather, pulled his ears.

Thanks to the Ocean City Elks Lodge, banners commemorating active military personnel and veterans now wave in the beach breeze along the Boardwalk.

During the lodge’s annual Hometown Heroes Military Banner dedication ceremony last Thursday, several soldiers’ family members and veterans celebrated raising 27 banners, each one with the name, rank and picture of active duty or former service members.

The plan is to raise all 40 banners soon, said Pat Riordan of the Elks’ Veterans Committee.

“We have about four spots still open for this program. We had 27 banners ready to go for the ceremony, and we have nine on their way,” Riordan said. “This year we’re honoring Korean War vets as well.”

"Looks he's a a showboat, he's a grand-stander, the FBI has been in turmoil. You know that, I know that. Everybody knows that.You take a look at the FBI a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil. Less than a year ago, it hasn't recovered from that," exclaims President Trump about Comey during an interview with NBC News' Lester Holt.

Which is odd because Andrew McCabe just denied any turmoil in The FBI...

Acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe: "I don't believe there is a crisis of confidence in the leadership of the FBI."pic.twitter.com/3GgHHtpAFi

But in what was the biggest surprise of the interview, Trump then added that he was going to fire FBI Director James Comey "regardless" of what the Justice Department recommended, contradicting what the White House said Wednesday, when after the firing it said Trump “acted based on the clear recommendations of both Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Attorney General Jeff Sessions.”

In Comey’s dismissal letter, Trump wrote: “I have received the attached letters from Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General of the United States recommending your dismissal as the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I have accepted their recommendation and you are hereby terminated and removed from office, effective immediately.”

With today's interview, Trump has thus blown the prior narrative apart, as well as whatever "3rd person" cover he had for terminating Comey, and immediately giving an opening for his opponents to attack him on motive, something which Clinton's former press secretary Brian Fallon immediately did on Twitter:

President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to launch a commission to review alleged voter fraud, a White House official confirmed to Fox News, after months of claiming voter fraud in the 2016 presidential election.

The order, titled “Presidential Commission on Election Integrity,” would establish a bipartisan commission, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, to review alleged voter fraud and suppression. Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who has investigated voter fraud in Kansas, will serve as vice chair.

"This action by President Trump fulfills another promise made to the American people,” Pence said in a statement. "We can't take for granted the integrity of the vote."

Once upon a time in the city of Salisbury, Maryland, a situation occurred that has many psychological ramifications. The event happened with my great-grandmother, Frances Kelly, in the 1890’s. At the time she had five children that had been born between 1885 and 1894. She also had a husband that was as pure Irish-Catholic as she was and much older. Although he was born in 1831, their marriage record in Somerset County lists his birth date as 1846. Since she was born in 1851, I guess he thought that five years was a suitable difference in age as opposed to twenty. Among his many jobs was tending the farm of John Tracy, doing maintenance at John Tracy’s Peninsula Hotel and hauling straw to the water works at the John B. Parson’s Home to keep the boiler fired up that provided them with hot water. For this he received ten cents a load. The small brick building to which he brought the straw is still there, alongside the standpipe.

Apparently, he had a habit of drinking a pint of spirits every day and this probably affected his personality to the point that his Irish temper flared up more often than it would have had he been totally sober.

The event that happened was that my great-grandmother became totally frustrated with life and all things in it – an alcoholic husband, five children and grinding poverty. She decided to take her life by walking from her home at the corner of Second and Pearl and walk into the River, thus ending her life and condemning her soul to everlasting damnation, since that was her belief as a God-fearing Catholic. As she entered the River and was about up to her waist, she happened to look up and saw her husband hauling a load of straw to the Parson’s Home. A clear thought of what she was doing and the consequences brought about her next thought- “That old man is not worth losing my soul over”. She then exited the River, went back home and lived until 1919.

Former Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown was found guilty on 18 fraud and tax evasion charges Thursday afternoon in a Jacksonville federal court.

The charges stemmed from accusations she illegally siphoned thousands of dollars from her charity into her own bank account for lavish parties, trips and shopping excursions.

Brown was found not guilty on four of the 22 total charges.

Brown served as a Florida representative in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 until 2017. She was defeated in her 2016 primary race.

The indictment came after an investigation into the charity One Door for Education Foundation Inc., which federal prosecutors say was purported to give scholarships to poor students but instead filled the coffers of Brown and her associates.

I was beginning to think the Donald’s days as the Great Disrupter were over before he even got started.

So bringing the hammer down on one of the most self-righteous prigs and self-aggrandizing Swamp Creatures to ever inhabit the Imperial City came just in the nick of time.

After all, just in the last week Trump got rolled by the Capitol Hill porkers on the continuing resolution and conned by the GOP leadership on Obamacare repeal, which is already DBA (dead before arrival) in the Senate. At the same time, his one-page Goldman Sachs tax plan has already been laughed off the beltway stage.

At least the long overdue Comey firing — it should have happened on January 20th within minutes of the swearing-in — gives him a chance to fight the most insidious threat of all.

The Democrats and the GOP’s Deep State shills like Senators McCain and Graham have never accepted the outcome of the 2016 election. Through the ill-disguised ruse of the Russian meddling investigation they are, in fact, essentially attempting to re-litigate the election and achieve an unconstitutional recount.

Folks, the Russian interference narrative is a colossal beltway scam. The case against the hapless General Flynn is threadbare, while the charge that certain Trump campaign operatives “colluded” with the Russians to influence the U.S. presidential campaign doesn’t even deserve the dignity of a belly-laugh.

Berlin is moving the Touch A Truck event from Saturday, May 13th to Saturday, June 17thbecause poor weather is forecast for early this weekend. This annual event runs from 10 a.m. until 12 p.m. in Berlin’s Stephen Decatur Park on Tripoli Street.

“The weather continues to be a challenge,” said Mayor Gee Williams. “We’ve received such positive feedback on this event from parents with young children, we’re choosing another date rather than canceling the event,” he added.

Several Town Departments and the Berlin Fire Company are joining together to hold the free event, which includes a police vehicle, bucket truck, digger derrick, vacuum truck, camera truck and garbage truck, along with a fire rescue squad vehicle and ladder truck. This year the Maryland State Troopers, Perdue Farm and the Red Cross will be joining the event.

In addition to getting a chance to touch their favorite truck, people attending the event will see employees from the Town and the Fire Company using the equipment.

“We’ll be demonstrating how to set an electric pole and using our ‘Power Town’ display to show everyone how to be safe around electricity,” added Electric Utility Director Tim Lawrence. “We are handing out free information and activities books for children ages 6 to 12, available on a first come first served basis.”

“In addition to seeing the equipment in action, we’ll show how Police Officers use trained dogs in searches,” stated Town Administrator Laura Allen.

Hamburgers, hotdogs and ice cream will be available for sale throughout the event.

From the comfort of your own home, or the convenience of your smartphone, you can bid on over 65 different offerings, some practical, some whimsical, and some just plain fun! Proceeds from this auction will support Recovery Resource Center in operations costs, as well as, new initiatives to support the recovery community.

Recovery Resource Center is the hub of the recovery community in Salisbury. We are home to 47 different 12 Step Meetings weekly, representing the 12 Step Fellowships of Alcoholic Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, Chemically Dependents Anonymous, Gamblers Anonymous, Over-Eaters Anonymous, Al-Anon (for family & friends of the alcoholic) and Nar-Anon (for the family & friends of the addict). And since addiction never takes a holiday, RRC is open 365 days a year.

RRC offers a wide range of recovery literature, referral information, addictions education and outreach for schools and the community at large. We offer workshops and trainings to support those who are in recovery, both the newcomer and the person in long term recovery.

Recovery Resource Center is part of the solution to the problem of addiction, and everything we do is at no cost to the participants. Help us continue this most important work. Every donation makes a difference and just might save a life!

The Auction opens May 1st at 7:00 AM and closes May 15th at 7:00 PM.Restrictions may apply to each item.

SALISBURY, Md. – Junior Achievement of the Eastern Shore will bring employers and applicants together during a job fair this month at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center.

The organization’s job fair is for teens and young adults ages 14-24 and is set for Wednesday, May 17. The job fair will run from 3-6 p.m., and focuses include summer jobs and post-graduation employment.

An eagle's flight from the top of the world's tallest building to his handler below. An eagle was fitted with a camera and released from the top of the 2,715 foot Burj Khalifa tower in Dubai.
The eagle has no idea where the tiny speck of land was that his handler is standing on or what it looked like among all of the other islands and buildings and people. Somehow from that altitude, the eagle actually picks out and recognizes the trainer from all of the other objects, people, etc. You can see him looking, looking, looking for the trainer, completely invisible to a human eye and the camera, then fold his/her wings and then drops like a bullet straight to that trainer... very cool.
What surprised the experts is not only how efficiently the eagle spots his trainer from that altitude, but how smooth its flight is with no camera shake whatsoever, even when it goes into a power dive.

SALISBURY, Md. – The pond at the Salisbury City Park will be packed with fish for children to catch during Wicomico Recreation’s annual Youth Fishing Derby.

This year’s Fishing Derby, a free event, is set for Saturday, June 3, at the Salisbury City Park. Registration opens at 8 a.m., with fishing from 9-11 a.m. Food and drinks will be provided for youth participants after that, and there will also be trophies awarded. Among the categories children can compete in are Most Fish Caught, Most Unusual Catch and Biggest Fish.

The Fishing Derby is for boys and girls ages 15 and younger, and participants should bring their own bait and rods. The Department of Natural Resources will be adding about 500 blue gills to the pond’s catfish, largemouth bass, perch and carp.

A new report states that only 36 percent of Indian software engineers can write working, compilable code based on a test used to automatically grade programming skills.

The report was published by Aspiring Minds, an Indian skills assessment company, which based their report on a sample of 36,800 people from more than 500 colleges across India. The company used an automated tool called Automata to perform the study. Automata is a 60-minute test that is taken in a compiler integrated environment that rates candidates on a number of levels including programming ability, programming practices, run-time complexity, and test case coverage. Candidates in the test were made up of 61.1 percent male candidates and 38.9 percent female candidates, coming from cities such as Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, and Hyderabad.

Automata utilizes advanced artificial intelligence technology to automatically analyze and grade a candidates coding abilities. The study states, “We find that out of the two problems given per candidate, only 14 percent of engineers were able to write compilable codes for both and only 22 percent were able to write compilable code for exactly one problem.” The test also found that of all the subjects tested, only 14.67 percent would be employable by a modern IT firm. When testing for candidates that could write fully functional code using the best practices and methods, only 2.21 percent passed the test.